Six Key Technology Concerns Facing Hospital CIOs - Slide 7

Hospital CIOs report being more prepared to assume broader responsibility in managing patient care than financial risk. Still, only one in four CIOs report that hospitals in their community are extremely/very prepared for increased responsibilities from managing patient care, and only 15 percent say they are extremely/very prepared for managing the associated financial risks.

A survey of hospital CIOs, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Optum Insititute, suggests major strides in adoption of electronic medical record systems, but major concerns remain about lack of interoperability.

The survey of 301 U.S. hospital CIOs explored overall progress in digitizing medical care, current health information technology (HIT) capabilities, plans for HIT expansion, stage of “meaningful use” progress, value of interoperability and benefits and challenges associated with technology use. The survey (Health Information Technology: Hospital CIOs) was conducted online by Harris Interactive between December 2011 and January 2012.

Nearly nine out of 10 hospitals surveyed (87 percent) now have EMR systems in place — up significantly since 2011, when the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) reported that only slightly more than half of CIOs had a fully operational electronic health record in at least one facility in their organization. Seventy percent of CIOs report their systems have attested to meaningful use 1 criteria (MU1) and 75 percent anticipated being able to meet expected meaningful use 2 (MU2) criteria by 2014.

“Hospitals are making substantial gains in adopting electronic medical records, participating in health information exchanges and achieving ‘meaningful use,’” said Simon Stevens, chairman of the Optum Institute. “But hospital chief information officers are clearly signaling that technology gaps remain, genuine interoperability remains elusiv, and – as a result – most U.S. hospitals are still some way off from being fully ready to play their part in managing population health and its related financial risk.”